Squadvertiser. It’s Halo meets HR. Rather than advertising Halo, Xbox launched a digital tool that let teams advertise for new teammates. With Squadvertiser they could create customised recruitment ads, specifying precisely the candidate they were targeting. These ran as billboards, banners and print to get teams’ needs in front of a wide audience of potential recruits.

Squadvertiser consisted of two main sections. One section was an ad creator, which allowed teams in need of new players to create customized recruitment ads, which could then be shared on social platforms or be distributed on Xbox’s own media spaces, such as billboards, banners, magazine and newspaper ads. The other section was a job board, on which unemployed players could search for Halo jobs matching their skill sets, and then apply directly to the team.

For the first time, Halo gamers could ‘hire’ who they wanted, forming lasting friendships in the process, leading to more Halo being played.

Squadvertiser is used by 9000 gamers daily

Ads have a 17% response rate

Halo 5 became the most-played game on Xbox Live

The issue at hand was that the target audience was faced with an unsatisfactory multiplayer experience.

So rather than advertise the product (Halo), our strategic approach was create something that would make the product better.

Xbox wanted more gamers to play Halo 5’s multiplayer. But multiplayer is only as good as the multiplayers. And currently, there’s no way to guarantee getting good teammates. Team formation involves being randomly matched with other players, many of whom are selfish, or abuse and betray you.